Northbound

Does anyone know if the 308 is open yet from Waltham to Mindanao yet or is the 311 the best option? Thanks jeff Maniwaki @$:=/ spellcheck

Jean-Guy, Dream of green does not represent my views. We come to Quebec to ride not just for the great trails but for the great people. We travel a lot in Canada and the states,and are treated as well or better in Quebec than anywhere else. We secure are equipment, whether we are riding in Ontario or Quebec. We come to Quebec because of people like you and WE APPRECIATE everything you do for us. Jeff and Sandy

Thanks for your help guys, I talked to a girl at the HI and she said some have been taking the bridge. I called the local club who put me in contact with the district 6 rep. He told me Marcels towing for a rolloff. He said they are working on a bridge that should be done by next season. The Ontario side is done now and he was told the quebec side will be finished next summer. That would be nice. Jeff and Sandy

We are planning a trip next week that will include us crossing from Pembroke to quebec to pick up the 43 trail. We had made the crossing several years ago following local advise and we crossed on the river I think a little north of Pembroke. After the fact I don't think it was good advise. The river didn't look good and when we got to the Ontario side we were told, we were lucky. On the ont side at least for now the trails are not open south or east of Pembroke. Can you run across the highway 148 bridge or is there a transport or do we just call for a rollback truck. I called the best western in Pembroke where we will be staying and they knew nothing. Any advise would be welcome, thanks in advance Jeff and Sandy

Floridarider Sounds like a very good plan and yes you'll see the bridge, it's west of B.C.. Enjoy yourselves and post. Jeff and Sandy

ODog, Close to the ferry in baie comea the trails were rough before the snow on Wednesday. The 3 from that point to the west was all good to la malbaie. From there we went north. Today we ran about 20 or so miles on the 3 around quebec city and it was bad. I would assume the snow we got Wednesday opened and or improved the trail between baie comeau and sept isles. The run between sacre Coeur and baie comea is all pretty fast except the first 30 or so miles, easy day. Between B.C. and sept isle is fast except the section between BC and godbout, still a very easy day. I agree with viper about staging further east or north to avoid the 3 around QC. Jeff

I think about 200 miles. It doesn't look like all of the links are open yet. Also that area uses some lakes as shortcuts and I don't know if they are open or staked. Go to ofsc trip planner.

Day 12 Jonquiere to quebec city. Finally a little cooler today, started around 0 and sunny. Took the 368which was very nice to the 23. The 23 to L tape was not so great. Sugary over ice in spots and bumper the further south we got. Seemed to have enough snow just a ton of traffic, I imagine. We branched off to the 369 which was much better. We followed it to the local that connects to the 3. The 3 was bad, but it was better than I expected. It was hardpack with quite a bit of ice under about an inch of powder. It was passable with no brown showing. We passed two checkpoints on the 3, the first one they waved us through and the second that asked us a few questions and told us to be careful because the corners were icy. We knew. Instead of riding to the colibri to take the shuttle we stopped at 4 points and will get a cab to pickup our truck on the south side of the river. Trip summary; 1650 miles, not much for you high milers, but we stayed at a lot of nice places, met a lot of nice people, and enjoyed every day of riding. We found conditions to be good in a lot of areas people were writing off. Most areas were good, some great, very few poor. Also one of my benchmarks of a good trip is one where we don't have to dig out the rainsuits, tools or the shovel. Good on all 3. Tomorrow we take the black trail for a 900 mile day (top that). We hope to be back up in a week or two, and that trip, stage in Ontario. Thanks for following and happy trails Ride safe, Jeff and Sandy

Thanks for looking out for us groomer Jeff and Sandy

Day 11 The casino to Jonquiere. Took local trails to the 3 to the 83 to the 383 to an orange to the 83. Had lunch at the subway across from the delta. All trails were in great shape today. Many, many people out enjoying the trails today. The sleds we saw all seem to riding within their limits. It was in the 20s and sunny. If you didn't enjoy your ride today maybe you've chosen the wrong sport. Having kicked the 2 stroke habit last year, today I realized that I do miss the smell. When passing oncoming 2 strokes, that lingering smell is appealing, especially the more exotic mixes. Enjoyed seeing Bill, JD and pepper, and Jack and Sandi, and some new(to us)quebec riders.

Clarkely I posted on the quebec/charlevoix site what I saw on one small section of the 3 today. We're headed up to the lake tomorrow and then on Sunday trying to get back to the four seasons to get within cab ride distance of our truck on the south shore. We'll be on the 3 again and I'll post. Remember a lot can change in 10 days. Jeff

Continued day10 Took the 3 trail, to the orange trails to the 378. Everything was groomed up today until the last 10 miles before the casino. Met several wide-eyed oncoming sleds on the 3, must be getting a start on the weekend. Saw more traffic on the local trails but they were riding as if they knew they were not alone. Got to the newly rebuilt (after the fire) petite du casino early. Got a chance to do laundry after missing our normal laundry towns of sept isle or Baie Comeau.

Day 11 Sacre Coeur to the casino First, thanks for shouting back guys. To Viper2 I didn't have a chance to try the Cole slaw although your description sounds great. I was just happy to have a salad bar and baked potatoe, getting tired of frites with my meal. The 93 south and the 3 west to the ferry had been groomed last night, had firmed up and were perfect. No wait on the ferry. I will continue on the Quebec/Charlevoix forum.

Clarkely Tomorrow we'll be passing through tadoussac following the 3 to the casino. I will post tomorrow. Jeff and Sandy

Jack and Sandy, Right back at ya. I'm glad someone is reading these. If you're 're still at the Delta maybe we'll see you, we're booked in there Saturday night. Jeff and Sandy

Day 10 Forestville to Sacre Coeur. The forestville from baie comeau was covered on the gaspe site, sorry. One thing I left out yesterday was that the 3 trail had a reroute around Forestville. From the east it used to drop into town by the mcds and gas and the econolodge. Now it stays north of town and town is accessed by a local trail that comes in along the airstrip. Today the 3 to sacre Coeur was covered with fresh snow and in good condition. We took the shortcut to avoid les escoumins. The river crossing looked good with much fresh traffic. For Christmas Sandy got me a sweet new Choko jacket from Bill. It was so warm today I was down to just a t-shirt under it. (Nice jacket) I'll need a real winter to test it. Turning north on the 93 for the short distance to the coronet the trails need a pass from the groomer. Got to the coronet way too early but we were locked in because their cancellation policy is pretty rigid. The trip today was to leave from baie comea. Looking forward to the salad bar with my meal tonight.

Sorry I posted on this site last night,I'm now jumping to cote nord.

Day 9 Matane to forestville Rode the new ferry, very nice. Had breakfast on board. Met some interesting people from Maine. They were trailering to the Lac. 5 other sleds on board. The least ice I've ever seen on the crossing. Heading west on the 3 the first 20 or so clicks rough until you get to the big bridge. Then conditions got very nice and that's about when the snow began. Probably got 3 or 4 before town and it looks like we've had another 3 or 4 by now and it is still snowing. Saw about 5 or 6 eastbound sleds today and one groomer.

Day 7 Woke to steady rain. We carry rainsuits to use if we have to travel but we didn't have to travel today. We were headed to godbout and then a night in sept isles and then back to baie comeau. We had to cancel sept isles so we had an extra day so we used it now. Day 8 Rode to matane today to catch ferry tomorrow. Trails were bad today. They had frozen dirt, ice, frozen slush, and rutted frozen snow. Away from town they were better but not good. Matane should be avoided if possible. We have never had scratchers until this trip. I had a bad feeling about this mild winter and installed them about 2 days before we left. We used them today and they worked well. Wheels came in handy today also. ( a quad may have been nice). Fresh snow tomorrow will be welcome.

Day 6 Grande Vallee to Saint-Ann-Des-Monts Sandy's favorite new place to stay on the Gaspe is where we are tonight. Had another warm comfortable ride today. Before getting within about 10 miles of this town we had seen only 3 sleds and 1 coyote. Up in the mountains the trails were good with plenty of snow. Down around st ann the trails got a little more bumpy with less snow and many sticks. I think the groomer had a cutter bar and many of the cutoffs ended up on the trail. Nice room overlooking the st lawrence, nice dinner at Chez Bass.

Day 5 Gaspe to Grand valley. Last year Sandy found a couple of new places she liked and one was in Grande vallee, where we are now. We backtracked from yesterday to the 597. Yesterday it was so nice we thought we'd run the top section today. We havn't been on the top section in years. We had lunch at the Copper. Trails were in good shape. Only saw a few sleds all day. When we hit the 5 and turned east it looked as if they got a few inches last night. Motel is full tonight.

Day4 Bono to Gaspe. There is a reroute heading east out of bonaventure that I think connects 2 local trails that show on the map north of the 5.It may be temporary but it is straight and smooth and is even a few miles shorter. My GPS was going crazy and actually shut off a couple of times. I don t know if it was mad at me because it felt like I was ignoring it. Do they program feelings into these now? Hope not. Lunch and gas in chandler. Between bono and Chandler we saw 5 sleds and 6 deer. We took the 597 to the Bailey bridge cutoff to Gaspe. On that stretch we saw 2 more sleds and one groomer. The 597 was good and the cutoff was freshly groomed. Warm temps again today make it feel like mid March riding. Gas station going into Gaspe the guy said this time of year he usually gets 70 sleds a day. Today he said he had one tour of 10 sleds and us. Day4 Bono to Gaspe. There is a reroute heading east out of bonaventure that I think connects 2 local trails that show on the map north of the 5.It may be temporary but it is straight and smooth and is even a few miles shorter. My GPS was going crazy and actually shut off a couple of times. I don t know if it was mad at me because it felt like I was ignoring it. Do they program feelings into these now? Hope not. Lunch and gas in chandler. Between bono and Chandler we saw 5 sleds and 6 deer. We took the 597 to the Bailey bridge cutoff to Gaspe. On that stretch we saw 2 more sleds and one groomer. The 597 was good and the cutoff was freshly groomed. Warm temps again today make it feel like mid March riding. Gas station going into Gaspe the guy said this time of year he usually gets 70 sleds a day. Today he said he had one tour of 10 sleds and us.

Rode Amqui to Bonaventure today. Rode through groomers area but we didn't meet up, we usually see him out grooming. Your trails were great as usual JG! Saw many moose tracks but no moose. JG must have them trained to only show up for his camera. Almost all trails today were freshly groomed. Saw plenty of deer. Took the shortcut trail below the cable bridge to avoid cross pt. Even it was freshly groomed. Snow a little thinner around bono but that's about normal. Gassed up and got lunch at Chandler.

We are at the grand pre tonight and it is the way we remember it. No big improvements but it is nice and clean if not real fancy. There is esso gas in town and a pleasant little restaurant out front of the motel. Now here's the rub, it is about 5 miles off the 5 trail and some of the local trails into town are not signed real well. I sort of remembered the way in but still was looking at my gps. There used to be a Riotel here which drew in a lot of traffic, but not now. We passed a trail closed sign to get to the esso station. You will come up behind the station and the trail used to continue along this swampy area to the motel. It looked like no one had been through so we got gas and just followed the road for a few blocks to the motel. If you need more info just PM me. Another option would be the La Manoir Belle Plage in Carlton, it's a little nicer like Hotel Francis.

We left Hotel Levesque this morning in RDL. They had a deal when we checked in for an additional $11, we got 2 breakfast coupons and it was a good deal because the breakfast choices were decent meals. It flurried a little over night, just enough to get some clean white stuff down. We got on the 85 leaving town, following fresh groomer tracks, problem was they headed south on 85 and we turned east on 5. Still the trail was in pretty good condition. After the Pistolets clubhouse when the trail goes up in the powerlines, there was 6 to 8 inches of fresh snow. For a short while we were making fresh tracks, until some westbound sleds came through. And they kept coming and coming, there must have 30 or 40 sleds.There was enough snow that they were single tracking it, no one was playing. The closer we got to Rimouski the tracks started breaking up and the snow was spread. Now the next groomer through will have something to work with. The 578 was a little thin in the usual Windblown areas but otherwise was good. We stopped in Mont-Joli for gas and lunch. The rest of the ride to Amqui had plenty of snow, 20f temps, sunshine and blue skies.